Week 7 Day 3: DBQ PREPARATIONS

DBQ Information

Possible Documents:

1. Manifest Destiny quote by John O' Sullivan
2. Mexican Cession Map
3. Compromise of 1850 Map
4. Ostend Manifesto

Tasks: 

1. Organize ideas
2. Demonstrate knowledge with outside information
3. Set up the reader
4. Could ask why could there no longer be a compromise on the slavery question?
5. Theme: sectionalism

Summary of Lectures given during this Chapter:

First, there was the question of expansion, where the idea of Manifest Destiny was first introduced. With Americans eager for more land to support the growing population, the United States wanted to annex anywhere from no land to all of Texas, Oregon, and maybe even Mexico and Canada. How they were going to achieve this was unknown, but they knew war with Great Britain was not an option, for they wanted to avoid a two-front war. Because of this, they compromised with Britain and worked out the 49th parallel. In the Election of 1844, Polk won because he committed to the promise of expanding into Texas, while Clay did not take a firm stance. To gain support of the idea from the north, the Democrats simply stated that they were purely "re-occupying" the land that should be theirs. To enact this, Polk moved troops toward Texas, while Mexico moved their troops to what they thought was their defense line at the Nueces River. However, to Americans, who thought that Rio Grande was the boundary, it appeared as if the Mexicans were invading Texas. After the Americans beat the Mexicans, proving their military success to European countries, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed, which gave fair terms to avoid an angry neighbor. A proposed addition was the Wilmot Proviso stating that slavery should not be enacted on any gained territory, upsetting pro -slavery people who argued that slaves are property, and by the constitution, congress cannot limit the right to property. 

People could no longer compromise on the slavery question. With the expansion of territory people were forced to choose a side, and be either for or against it. The proposed solutions are as follows. Use the Missouri Compromise ideas, but California did not want to split into two, setting the precedent for Texas to split, and gain more representation. Territories could determine their own stance with popular sovereignty, but the other side would always be unhappy. The South viewed abolitionism as an attack on themselves, not slavery. The Election of 1848 was unlike any other where proposed candidates seemed like the opposite of their traditional parties, in order to appeal to the other side. With sectionalism and therefore extremism increasing, a compromise needed to be made. In the Compromise of 1850, California was admitted as a free state, Utah and New Mexico were determined with popular sovereignty, Texas gives up its tumor for financial aid, the slave trade is abolished in Washington DC (represents liberty) and the north would enforce the fugitive slave law. However, this was only passed as each proposal was voted on individually, and passed with a majority. There was no real agreement. 

The Kansas-Nebraska Act eliminated any chance of compromise when it disregarded the Missouri Compromise. The Act was designed to help make the train stop in the north at Illinois by Steven Douglas, in order to stimulate Illinois's economy. However, because Kansas and Nebraska were on Louisiana Territory and he promised the south to use popular sovereignty to decide the slavery question, not Missouri Compromise rules, he killed the one compromise that was working. Sectionalism was now more extreme than ever as people were forced to take a stance on the slavery question, thus splitting the nation into the North and the South, the Republicans and the Democrats.. 

Possible Outside Information

1. Eli Whitney's cotton gin created the need for slavery, making cotton profitable, but needing cheap labor to keep it that way. 
2. Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin which discussed the splitting of families, as well as the slaves analyzed like animals during slave auctions. She was an abolitionist, also fighting for women's rights, and her book exposed the inhumane actions slavery encouraged. 
3. The American Colonization Society was founded to move slaves to the Republic of Liberia, for people believed the only way to get rid of the problem slavery posed was to return the people to its original source. 
4. The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass highlighted on the conditions of slavery from his point of view. In one part of the story, he describes himself witnessing the whipping of his aunt. This exposed the cruel actions of the slave owner onto his slave. He also gained support for the abolition movement when he said that slave owners ruled by fear.
5. Poor relations with Britain occurred when the British investors lost their money after the Panic of 1837. There was a "war of words."
6. The Wilmot Proviso was passed in the house, not the senate, because the house of representatives was based on population, which was concentrated in the north. 
7. The Ostend Manifesto was a secret document sent to Spain offering to buy Cuba. When northerners expressed outrage that the South was trying to spread slavery, the south argued that northerners were trying to kill it, with more anti-slavery territories. Thus, actions cancelled each other out.